Laura Honeywood
While new history teacher in the Alternative Choices in Education (ACE) program Laura Honeywood originally didn’t believe she wanted to teach, she has since found her passion in education. Honeywood says that her favorite part of her work can be captured through the Yiddish word “naches,” which means the pride you feel when someone you’ve taught does something well. Honeywood is excited to be a part of a community where students are empowered and there is widespread kindness.
What drew you to the ACE program at BHS?
Talmadge Nardi, who’s an English teacher at the high school. I used to work with her at a small charter school. She told me about the ACE family representation at the hearings last spring, when all the teachers got [pink-slipped]. There were lots of families talking about how important the program was to their families, to their students. She was really impressed by that, so she was like, “You’ve got to come work in this program.”
Outside of teaching, what do you like to do?
During non-COVID times, I’m in a social justice acappella group, and I’m in a queer, feminist, musical theater troupe. I did musical theater in high school. I sang, mostly, and from singing got into musicals. In college I got sucked more and more into acting; I thought I wanted to be an actor.
Do you have a favorite musical?
My favorite musical that I was in was “Guys and Dolls,” [where I played] Adelaide. I went to school with Daveed Diggs, and got to be in a musical that he wrote, which was awesome. Seeing “Hamilton” on Broadway with him in it was the best!
What made you want to become a teacher?
I didn’t! I worked in refugee resettlement, and I learned that most of the refugees were from conflicts that we had started in places that I’d never heard of. Here were people who were in civil wars that I didn’t even know about. I thought that people really needed to know more about that, so I started consulting in schools. In refugee resettlement, I did a lot of advocacy for recently resettled students and parents in schools. I started working with schools through that, and then I got roped in by a program called the Center for Civic Education that does cool, project-based empowerment through law and the Constitution.
Is there anything else you want to say to the school community?
I feel very lucky to be at the high school. I am really excited by the kindness and accountability [of the] faculty and the students. I’m really excited by the degree to which students feel empowered to hold their teachers accountable. It’s just beautiful.